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28 AUGUST 2021

This Sunday at the Cain’s Ballroom, the Brazos Valley Boys celebrate their 75th anniversary, as well as the 70th anniversary of their former boss’s first big hit, “Wild Side of Life.” That man, of course, was Hank Thompson, who I think is one of the two artists who could legitimately vie with Bob Wills for the King of Western Swing title. (The other? Spade Cooley, about whom the term “western swing” was actually coined.)
        

Saturday on SWING ON THIS, I’ve got a song from still another Thompson/BVB landmark: the 60-year-old LP AT THE GOLDEN NUGGET, the first live album recorded by a country music artist. It’s the only “live” track on the show this week — unless you count a Johnnie Lee Wills set at the end, from transcribed sessions the boys did with announcer Frank Sims — but there’s plenty of other great music, including probably the best Indonesian version of “San Antonio Rose” you’ll ever hear. Plus Casey Van Beek and the Tulsa Groove, Leon McAuliffe, the Tractors, Ray Pennington,  and one of America’s all-time-great pop vocalists taking on a cowboy classic.
        

So, if that sounds like the sort of thing you’d enjoy, c’m’on along for a big full hour of western swing, cowboy jazz, and a surprise or two as well. That’s SWING ON THIS, Saturday at 7 p.m. Tulsa time over radio station KWGS, 89.5 FM, and live-streaming throughout the known universe at publicradiotulsa.org

 

1. “Cotton Patch Blues,” Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys(for JAMES BAILEY)

2, “Panhandle Rag,” Rose Sinclair

3. “I Got Loaded,’ Casey Van Beek and the Tulsa Groove
(for WES & JEANNIE BENGE, THE LEON LIFERS, and the GLASS LIFTERS) 

4. “Honky Tonk Girl,” Hank Thompson

5. “Milk Cow Blues,” the Brazos Valley Boys w/Dugg Collins

6. “I Saw Your Face in the Moon,” Cliff Bruner and His Texa Wanderers
(for GUY T. MILLER)

7. “Tumbling Tumbleweeds,” Jo Stafford
(for HAMILL TIME)

8. “Doreen,” Tractors
(for CHARLENE RIPLEY)

9. “San Antonio Rose,” the New Savages
(for AP MCQUIDDY)

10. “Long Tall Texan,” Roy Ferguson

11. “I’ve Still Got A Long Way to Go,” Billy Parker
(for JACK & CAROLE BENDER)

12. “Mood Indigo,” Michael H. Price and His Western Swingmasters
(for SUE ANN CHAPMAN)

13. “I’m Going Back to Birmingham,” Leon McAuliffe

14. “Turn Me Loose and Let Me Swing,” Ray Pennington
 
15. “Farther Along/Smith’s Reel/Closing Theme,” Johnnie Lee Wills